There are three different types of guitar: acoustic, electric and classic.

Use the following information to figure out wich type to choose first.

Electric guitars are great for beginners, especially for people who like rock or metal. Because the strings are closer to the fretboard, these guitars are easier to play than acoustic guitars. In case you have a amplifier with a headphone jack, you can practise without disturbing others. Compared to the other types, these guitars (and amplifiers) are a more expensive.
The requirement of an amplifier makes this guitar less portable.

The Acoustic guitar has a narrow neck compared to the classic guitar, which makes playing easier for people with small hands. This is the type of guitar that is used in most pop songs and other populair music. It’s very portable because there is no amplifier required.

Classic guitars (unlike the other guitar types) have nylon strings, these are less hurtful for your fingers compared to steel strings in the beginning. Because there is no amplifier required, this guitar is also very portable. This type of guitar has a wider neck which may cause the small handed beginner some difficulty. This guitar may not match your expectations when you are planning on playing popular music because it has a mellow sound.

Steel strings are harder on the fingers than nylon strings, so your fingers become sore when you practice too long or too much in the beginning. However, from the moment the callouses are formed on your fingertips the pain will disappear completely and another option is putting on lighter strings.

You will have to decide which of the types matches your style, personality and the kind of music you would like to play. Each type has their advantages and disadvantages and are available in different sizes: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and full size and they are also good for beginners.

The sound of electric guitars largely depends on an electrical signal, generated by the vibration of metal strings near sensitive pickups (magnets wrapped with coils of very fine wire). This signal is sent to a amplifier through a cable.

The sound of acoustic and classic guitars depend on the vibration of the guitars body and the air within it.

When you’d like to have a better and more expensive guitar for the same amount of money, you can buy a nice used guitar to start with. The best would be if you know someone who is experienced in guitars, so you could ask him/her go with you and give you some advise.

Make sure that:

• The frets are in shape
• The neck is straight *
• The action is low and *
• The strings are fresh and thin *

* These conditions can be corrected by a good guitar shop in most cases!

The most important thing is that you like the sound of the (used) guitar your buying! The type of pick and strings you use also make a big difference in the sound of your guitar (you can find more information about this on my website).

When you type the words “learn guitar” in Google, you’ll find
a whole bunch of results in 0,1 second and everyone has a
different thing to say!
People don’t know where to start anymore and I can’t blame them,
but what IS the best way to learn how to play guitar anyway?

Great guitar players mesmerize an audience as they make beautiful music strumming their guitarstrings.  A lot of people watch them (while their music seems to flow effortlessly from the guitarstrings) trying to find out what the best way is to learn how to play guitar so good they can imitate them.
It´s hard to decide which method is the best one out all of them to achieve your goal.
Besides, when there are a lot of different methods there are a lot of different opinions as well…
The best way to learn how to play guitar is depending on the person who´s learning it.

There are a lot of people who employ a teacher who, obviously, is (or at least should be) an expert guitarplayer.
This teacher should know the best ways to learn how to play guitar in order to give good lessons.
He should also have a lot of experience (in playing the guitar as well as teaching someone to play the guitar) and knowledge about the techniques and it would also be convenient if he’d be  patient.
He should also provide lessons at appropriate times for your  schedule.

Other people believe that serious practice is the best way there is to master the guitar.

Some think you can learn how to play guitar without a teacher and that the best way would be practicing the basics of the guitar by themselves with video instructions/information on the internet or in books.
They just practice the techniques they´ve learned  a lot in order to perfect their skills learned from these tools.
At least this method does save a lot of money.

As I mentioned before, the best way to learn how to play guitar is different for every person.
What works really good for one person might not  work at all for another person.
Most experts say that practice makes perfect and being a guitarplayer myself I have to agree, so there are many different methods to learn the techniques of guitarplaying but practice is the best way to learn how to play guitar.

You can find more information about this at:
www.learnhow2playguitar.info

About a year ago, I played Guitar Hero for the first time.
I really LOVED it and was hooked on it as I’ve never been hooked on a videogame before (actually, I never was such a gamer at all) …

Not long after that I bought an extra guitar controller because I liked having someone to join me.
Then I also bought a microphone and drums so we could play with the whole family (it’s a really nice partygame, check My son, me, my brother & my mother and aunt playing The Beatles Rockband).

From that moment on I made sure that I had every single guitar videogame available (in Europe).
I even bought Guitar Hero for the Playstation 2 in order to play in the bedroom or kitchen when my boyfriend is watching football in the livingroom !!!

I like playing Guitar Hero and playing Rockband as well.
The Guitar Hero controllers I have (World Tour Version) are compatible with the Rockband games as well (except the first one).
Personally I like Guitar Hero for the song-playing and I like Rockband for the good looks (crowd and rockstars).

Because I loved the guitar videogames so much, I even began to think and talk about a real guitar!
In june 2009 (+/- 6 months after I first played the game) we received some taxmoney and I bought a used electric guitar (Ibanez Gio) with amplifier.
I started to learn to play guitar by learning online and I really liked it and progressed well.

I’d seen this really cool multi effects processor, the Line 6 Pocket Pod, somewhere and just fell in love with it!
I was very happy when my boyfriend bought me one for my birthday
in August (how sweet of him).
With this device the electric guitar sounds much cooler and from that moment I enjoyed playing my guitar even more than I did before…

Not long after that I found a really good and experienced teacher who’s lessons are also really cheap (usually they’re quite expensive), so I started to take lessons from him.
Apart from the fact that it’s good for me to get homework every week,
the thing I like the most about the lessons is jammin’ together with my teacher.
He plays the guitar, the piano and the drums and he jams along with me when I’m playing.
I really like it a lot, especially because I normally don’t have other people to jam with …
It’s also really great that my teacher has a professional studio (he’s in a blues band) and even is going to record songs on CD with me.
The amplifier I plug in my guitar during the lessons is also really great!

It’s a professional one used for gigs and it can not be compared with any “practise-amp” at all.
I enjoyed playing my guitar even more than I enjoyed playing the guitar videogames,
so I bought a second guitar (Ibanez Performance).
This time it was an acoustic guitar, but also second hand like my first one.

A lot of songs are perfect for an electric but not so nice with an acoustic and vise versa.
I use my electric guitar (with pocket pod) for songs like:
Another way to die (Alicia Keys & Jack White) and
Steady as she goes (The Raconteurs).

My acoustic guitar sounds much better for songs like:
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) (Green Day) and
Hey There Delilah (Plain White T’s)

I really love both of my guitars and I would be devestated if either one of them got damaged!

Currently I jam along with almost 70 songs (some with a capo) and I am practicing my barre chords.
I really love playing guitar and I could spend hours each day doing it (unfortunately I don’t have that much time).

I still love the guitar videogames, I just spend more time on “the real thing”.
I think that’s because you really see progress with it.
In my case I also have a goal (I’d love to play guitar in a band someday)
which encourages me a lot.

More about this at:
www.learnhow2playguitar.info/videogames